Ormsby Blog: How to Shop for Furniture

It's not hard to shop for furniture. You just need to know what to look for.

In wood furniture, look for:

• Pieces made of kiln-dried hardwood, such as mahogany, oak and walnut.
• Legs and other structural parts made from solid wood.
• Legs on chairs and tables secured by screw-on wooden blocks.
• Drawer joints that are dovetailed, front and back.
• Reinforcing blocks at fronts of drawers.
• Center glides on drawers; corresponding glides on frames.
• Drawers that are smoothly finished on the inside.
• Dust panels between drawers of chests and desks.
• Well-finished backs with recessed panels screwed on.
• Doors with interlocking edges to insure snuff fit.
• Durable, smoothly finished hinges and other hardware.
• Perfectly aligned hinges so doors swing open and shut evenly.
• Matching grain and finish on adjoining doors and surfaces.

In upholstered furniture, look for:

• Frames made of kiln-dried hardwood.
• Joints that are doweled and glued to fit tightly.
• Hand-tied coil springs on firm, taut webbing, or S-type springs on flat steel strips.
• Firmly woven upholstery fabric that will wear well.
• Deck of seat under cushion covered in matching fabric.
• Fabric pattern matched at seams, centered on inside back.
• Straight, even welting covered in bias cut fabric.
• Tufting buttons sewn on all the way through filling.
• Fabric backed by cotton batting, hair stuffed muslin and burlap attached to springs.